Hi Matt,

I'm glad to see a posting to this list. It would be nice if we could get
the discussion going again.

Regarding personality tests, I don't believe in them, but I see nothing
wrong with people who do believe in them taking them. I know people who
feel aided by all sorts of things in which I don't believe such as
astrology, food supplements, shamanism, copper bracelets, meditation,
etc. Conversely, I feel aided by matters in which others possibly do not
believe or trust, such as peer support and information through the
Internet.

As to the sad case of William Bruce, there are several complex issues
here. My opinions are definitely not Szaszian:

1. From the description, he may well have been eccentric (= off center)
as a lad. Sadly, such people do exist. Where we go wrong is that we
expect medicine/psychiatry to deal with such people. Doctors' meddling
only makes matters worse.

2. Nobody would be surprised if someone committed an act of violence
under the influence of crack cocaine or alcohol. I'm not surprised when
such an act is committed under the influence of prescription narcotics
or withdrawal therefrom. The difference is that he was deceived into
believing that these are "medicines" that will solve whatever the
problems he was having were. Or they were forced on him, apparently from
his youth. We cannot know what he would have been like without the drugs.

3. When someone, off-center or not, commits a violent crime, like
breaking someone's legs, not to mention murder, then it is not
unreasonable to lock him up -- but not under medical auspices. Whether a
defect of the personality/brain/drug/what-have-you is responsible for
such behavior is unknowable and irrelevant. He is locked up, hopefully
under humane conditions, to protect others. Of course he should first
have a fair trial in a criminal court to determine whether he actually
did commit the crime.

4. Note that in this article not only the advocates but also physicians
and nurses wanted him released, even against his own wishes.
Psychiatrists have to occasionally send people back into the community
to keep up the pretense that they heal people. That is one more reason
why people convicted of acts of violence should be dealt with in the
criminal system and not under the guise of health care.

5. If all these people believe that this is a medical problem, why do
they grossly violate medical confidentiality by releasing all sorts of
private medical information to the press? This reminds me of what Dr.
Szasz rightly says, that psychiatrists want to be considered physicians
like other physicians, but they don't want their patients to have the
same rights as other patients. If only the public at large would open
their eyes to this irony.

Mira